This is the last time I'm going to say this. No black pileateds with white secondaries have been reported, let alone documented, from the Big Woods. No pileateds with any plumage anomalies whatsoever have been documented on Bayou DeView. Believe what you like about the sightings. But there is a big difference between what has been reported and what has been distorted.Maybe his claim hinges on the word "documented", but it seems to seriously conflict with this information.
Note a sentence from fangsheath here:
Not being an avid birder I have certainly learned the value of good field notes, including sketches.
2. Without comment, I offer this information that MMinNY posted on the believer's forum:
Off topic. . .any tips on spotting Great Horned Owls? I've never seen one (in the wild), but I've been hearing them quite regularly pre-dawn.
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If you want some fun, then check out the latest Fishcrow rantings at his site. Talk about mentally unbalanced....
On 2-6-07 fishcrow said: It is a shame that many birders and ornithologists are too ignorant, jealous, intellectually dishonest, or whatever the case may be to consider evidence such as this, realize that ivorybills exist, and demand that these birds and their habitat are protected.
Maybe you don't have to actually see the most common and large owl in North America before you are qualified as a birding or bird sighting expert? That would explain a lot.
Fishcrow's latest "comparison" shot is just too much to take (http://www.fishcrow.com/bill_comparison.jpg). When I unfocus my eyes and stare at a light background, I see globs of stuff that look just like his IBWO shot floating around in my eyeball.
Excellent dissection of IBWO sightings over at BirdForum.
"Off topic. . .any tips on spotting Great Horned Owls?"
Yeah ... they often nest in abandoned IBWO holes ...
Here's the FL report:
91-222 VARIEGATED FLYCATCHER, Dry Tortugas (Monroe), seen 15 March 1991 and accepted by an earlier Committee as Variegated Flycatcher Empidonomus varius, a South American species. A key feature that supported the original identification was the conspicuous rusty tones on upper tail coverts and tail edges. However perceived bill size, an all dark bill, and fruit-eating habit caused some people (e.g., A. Kratter, J. V. Remsen) to re-identify the bird as Piratic Flycatcher (Legatus leucophaius) [also, see Check-list of North American Birds, seventh edition, 1998: 411]. Immature (juvenile) Piratic Flycatchers also exhibit rusty edging on the upper tail coverts and rectrix edges. The Committee reopened the original report, re-examined the slides, and looked at specimens of both species from the FLMNH collections. Characters supporting Piratic Flycatcher were smallish (bill-head length ratio from photos equivocal), all black bill and ventral streaking confined to the breast, well demarcated from clear (unstreaked) abdomen, and fruit-eating behavior. The bird appeared to be in fresh plumage, with adult-like forebody plumage. The rusty edging obvious caudally implied immature plumage. Thus, the bird appeared to be wearing a mosaic feather coat of two plumages that nobody on the Committee could account for. The key character that resolved the issue in the minds of Committee members was the distribution of emarginated (notched) outer primaries reported in the literature between the two genera in question. Specimens available to us supported the view that Legatus has entire, non-emarginated outer primaries, while Empidonomus has distinctly emarginated outer primaries. One slide of the Dry Tortugas showed the bird with a partly fanned outer wing that clearly revealed an entire (non-emarginated) outer primary (P10 or 9). Vote, Variegated Flycatcher hypothesis: 0 accept, 7 not accept. Variegated Flycatcher identification NOT ACCEPTED. Vote, Piratic Flycatcher hypothesis: 7 accept, 0 reject [One committee member later expressed reservations about his vote, because of the above mentioned issue on the rusty edges in the bird’s plumage]. Piratic Flycatcher identification ACCEPTED.
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